The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-12-09
How to Manage the Young Chicks.

4OW w OAOA0SO VIC 4ONAN SAAS0o'
A writer in Farm and Garden says;
In promising to tell our readers how to
manage young chicks, We wish to make
this issue of such value that you will
file it away for reference. We will try
to get volume in nutshell, yet we will
not omit anything that may be neces-
sary. The point first in view is to know
what the object is in raising chicks
To sell, of course. Then, if to sell they
should be Of the best that can be pro-
duced, and that is something very often
overlooked. 1t can only be obtained
by good breeding and good feeding
both together, as neglect Of either is
simply loss.
The frst essential is warmth, and the
second is to avoid lice. When hens
brood chicks lice may be expected, but
when brooders are used, provided NO
hens are ever allowed near the biooders,
lice seldom appear. Dampness is always
fatal to young chicks, and they must
always be SO situated that they can re-
sort to warmth of ninety degrees.
Should the brooder become too cool the
chicks will crowd together, and if they
become chilled the result is usual !
bowel disease. Hence, be sure that the
chicks are always warm and dry. DO
not let them 60 more. than six inches
away from the brooder until they are at
least week or ten days old, SO that they
may have an opportunity to become
strong and able to endure changes Of
weather. One hundred chicks can be
raised to the age Of ten weeks in a
brooder one yard square, with shelter.
over it, the yard being five feet wide
and sixteen feet long, allowing house
5x5 to hold the brooder.
Our readers often ask, GLOW should
young chicks be fed?" But if they
only knew the ''pith" of that question,
they would ponder well. 1t asks much
in few words. Why, we would ask,
did you not state the kind of chicks?
Did it ever occur to you that all young
chicks are not alike, and that food
adapted to some is Of little value to
others? Such is the fact, but we will
have an explanation, and if the readers
will gather around, we will en-.
deavor to advance a few important
hints. You may have often
noticed that some chicks, in a few
days after being hatched, shoot out
tiny feathers to the wings and tails, and
in week or two are we'll feathered,
while others will run about nearly max.
ed until they are well advanced in
growth. The chicks that feathered
rapidly have the blood of the following
breeds which feather rapidly in the Or
der named; Games, Leghorns, Minorcas,
Hamburgs, Dorkings, Dominique,
Langshangs, Wyandottes, Plymouth
Rocks, Brahmas and Cochins. The
Eve latter breeds we placed in the ORDER,
but they feather rather slowly, the
Brahma and Cochin being nearly naked
when young.
The food is given for the purpose of
producing growth (desh and bone) and
warmth (fat. Now, all the growth that
goes into the feathers is at the expense
of growth of body, unless you supply
food that is rich in nitrogen and phos.
pilates. And the growth is sometimes
SO rapid that the chicks must be fed
often in order to keep them in condi.
ton. Hence fat broiler is not always
obtainable from breeds that feather rap.
idly. But to return to our feeding.
Give nothing to the chicks for twenty.
four hours after they are hatchsd. 1t
is difficult to induce people to carry
out this rule, but it is necessary, or you
will derange the digestive organs. Be.
sides, nature provides the chick with
full ration for twenty -four hours (by
absorption of the yolk) when it comes
into the world. After the. chick is
twenty-four hours old, chop hard.
boiled egg fine, and feed. Give only
one meal of the egg, as it will cause
bowel disease. Feed the chicks every
two hours. After feeding the egg give
a mixture composed as follows: One
pound cornmeal, one pound ground